Roddick, Agassi on track for showdown

MELBOURNE, Australia - Asked to pick a title favorite heading
into the Australian Open's second week, Andy Roddick pointed to
Andre Agassi.

After all, Agassi has won this major four times and is on a
25-match winning streak here. Roddick likened Agassi's success at
Melbourne Park to Pete Sampras' reign at the All England Club.

"There's a lot of guys left … take your pick," Roddick said.
"But, you know, kind of like when Pete went on his big Wimbledon
runs, I think it's Andre's title until someone takes it away from
him."

Roddick might get a chance to be that someone, because he and
Agassi are on course to meet in the semifinals. Both reached the
quarterfinals with relative ease, winning fourth-round matches in
straight sets Sunday.

The top-seeded Roddick slammed 14 aces in a 6-1, 6-2, 6-3
dismissal of No. 16 Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands. Agassi
needed to save five set points in the opener before beating No. 13
Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4.

Roddick will play 2000 U.S. Open champion Marat Safin in the
quarterfinals, while Agassi must get past No. 9 Sebastien Grosjean.
Safin eliminated James Blake.

Agassi improved to 205-45 (a .820 winning percentage) in Grand
Slam matches and sounded like someone who likes his chances for
adding a ninth major title to his collection.

"I feel like I've experienced every part of my game throughout
this first week, and I've liked the levels I've hit," Agassi said,
"and I'm in position to go further, to take it higher."

He won his first Australian Open title in his debut in 1995 - 10
years after his first Grand Slam tournament at the U.S. Open. He
added back-to-back championships in 2000 and '01, missed '02 with
an injured wrist and returned to take the title last season.

Agassi, raised in Las Vegas, said he does well in Australia
because he enjoys the heat.

The temperature peaked at 66 Sunday, not warm enough for
Agassi's best but no hindrance to Roddick's scorching serves.

Roddick has lost only 30 games and hasn't conceded a set through
four matches. And he thinks he can improve.

"I feel like I'm getting better each match out there," he said.
"And I felt really good from the baseline today. You know, I was
doing what I wanted with the ball."

He's on an 11-match winning streak in Grand Slam play and is
21-3 at majors since he entered the last Australian Open ranked No.
10.

"There's always pressure. But, you know, I'm just going out and
I'm trying to take care of business, you know, be mellow besides
that," he said. "There's not all the hoopla that there is,
obviously, playing at home. They're looking at a lot of other
people, which is nice."

On Monday, which is Australia Day, the local fans will surely be
paying attention to Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis, who led
Australia to the 2003 Davis Cup title.

In women's action on Monday, Lisa Raymond followed her upset
over Venus Williams with an easy victory, defeating wild-card entry
Tatiana Golovin 6-2, 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals.

The 25th-seeded Raymond equaled her best performance in 44
previous Grand Slam tournaments. She reached the quarters at
Wimbledon in 2000.

"I haven't really played my best tennis in the Grand Slams. For
me to be able to play this kind of tennis here in Australia is
great," said Raymond, who has three Grand Slam women's doubles
titles.

Raymond won the last 11 points of the match. She made the most
of her French opponent's 22 errors, including a double-fault on
break point in the opening game of the second set.

At 30, Raymond has won four singles titles on the tour and 42
doubles championships. She and Martina Navratilova lost in the
second round of the doubles competition at this tournament.

Golovin, who celebrated her 16th birthday on Sunday, had only
one win on the WTA Tour before arriving at Melbourne Park. She was
ranked No. 354 coming into the season's first major.

Golovin earned $58,000 for reaching the fourth round.

"My goal was to get one or two rounds, so it's great I lost in
the fourth," she said. "I'm a little disappointed in my match. I
wasn't moving very well and I had to play my best tennis against
her if I wanted to win, and it didn't really happen."

Raymond produced the upset of the first week when she beat
third-seeded Williams in straight sets in the third round. Raymond
hadn't won a set off the four-time Grand Slam winner in their three
previous encounters.